Dancing With Danger
by ZephyrDragon
Summary: Bellatrix's experience of the Final Battle - Written for the HPFF House Cup 2010 collaboration


Bellatrix never really believed it was true until she saw them, fighting together, from across the Entrance Hall; her traitorous sister's half-blood daughter and her outcast, werewolf husband. She remembered her beloved Dark Lord's words from so many months ago and felt rage building inside her: _"Many of our oldest family trees become a little diseased over time. You must prune yours, must you not, to keep it healthy?"_

Bella narrowed her eyes and increased her grip on the borrowed wand. She stunned two teenagers who were in her way and then strode through the middle of the room, as if daring the opposition to attack - however, her intimidating demeanour and reputation were enough to protect her from the opposition, who were mainly Hogwarts students. She shot spells in the direction of the few adults she saw, laughing manically when a jet of light hit its target, and dodged a few stray spells that had sailed over the heads of the students that her fellow Death Eaters had found themselves fighting.

Nearing her targets, Bella slowed down. She would kill the half-breed first, she thought, merely for the pleasure of watching her niece's anguish and pain. Her lip curled upwards in anticipation, revealing white, almost pointed teeth, as she prowled towards her prey. The werewolf itself was duelling Dolohov, and neither noticed as she crept up behind the latter. The flash of green light flew from her wand and hit it in the chest, directly over its heart. The force of the curse threw the unkempt body back into the wall and it landed in a crumpled heap on the cold stone floor.

Bella's niece let out a howl of pain and rage that would have tugged at any other woman's heart, and, stunning Dolohov, she flung herself down beside her husband, draping her arms around him and wailing as tears poured down her cheeks. Bella stood behind where Dolohov had fallen - she wouldn't bother helping him; why should she when it was his own fault for dropping his concentration? The sight of a woman clinging so desperately to the man Bella had just killed brought a sneer to her lips, quickly evolving into a maniacal laugh which rang through the hall. At this sound, her niece looked up and Bella looked into her eyes. They were wet, and red-rimmed, but burned with a passion which would only make her death more exhilarating. She stood slowly, her wand held out in front of her, without losing eye contact. Bella's lip curled.

"Oopsie daisy!" she sang. "Did Auntie Bellatrix kill your pet dog?" she asked, pronouncing every syllable slowly with a menacing hiss.

At this her niece leapt forward and shot a jet of red light at Bella, which she swiped aside with her wand. She was the one advancing now.

"Your poor mother! Her mudblood husband _and_ her only daughter both dead within six months" she taunted. "After I've finished with you, maybe I'll put her out of her misery."

Her niece's eyes widened with fear, then narrowed as she seemed to focus her determination. The two women began to move, one almost dancing as she let out an insane laugh. The other was moving less gracefully, only just holding her own against the older woman's spells. A few students around the hall had noticed the fight, but they did not dare to approach the duelling pair, instead backing away from the stray spells that shot across the hall as Bella nimbly avoided them instead of stopping her own spells to cast a shield charm. She liked to dance with danger - it made a battle much more stimulating to know that the slightest mistake meant that you could be killed at any time.

Bella stepped closer to her opponent to test her niece's reflexes. She seemed to be tiring, and Bella could sense victory. Sure enough, a streak of green light finally found its target and threw the other woman to the floor next to her husband. Bella's victory cackle rang through the air as she whirled around and danced away to find another opponent. Finally, _finally_, she had got the chance to regain her family's reputation and remove the blemishes of her sister's betrayal - of course she could eliminate her sister too, but that would be a waste of time and effort, which she would prefer to spend eradicating other mudbloods and blood traitors. _Talking of blood traitors..._ She caught a glimpse of flaming red hair through a doorway, and prowled off in search of the owner.

Later, Bellatrix watched her adored master kill his mortal enemy, and a part of her could admit that she was disappointed that the war was over. But then the survivors continued to resist, even though their hero was dead, and, cackling wildly, she identified the Longbottoms' son. She laughed aloud, exhilarated at his pain, as he was forced into submission by the power of her master, but it was cut short as various beasts, half-breeds, and more witches and wizards emerged from the forest, and the battle recommenced.

Back inside Hogwarts, she found herself duelling three teenagers at once with a crazy smirk stretched across her face. She hissed as her Killing Curse barely missed the Weasley girl, but then the three were thrown backwards and replaced by the Weasley mother. Her smirk evolved into a grin which showed all of her teeth, and then into an exhilarated laugh.

She laughed at her master's victory; at the continued battle, the inevitable ending, the stench of murder which filled the Great Hall.

She was still laughing when the green light hit her chest and coldness started spreading through her. She just had time to rearrange her expression to show her astonishment before her body fell to the floor.

Bella felt herself floating near the ceiling of the room; not that you could see the actual roof - the charms to make it look like the night sky were impeccable, even close up. Looking down, however, she could see her own body, lying in a heap on the floor, just like she had left her numerous victims from the night's battle. The room wasn't exactly how she had last seen it. There was an eerie silence filling it, and all the still living occupants had retreated to the edges of the room except one.

He stood tall and imposing in his black robes with a posture that commanded respect. Bella thought that he had finally managed to beat his enemies into submission for a moment, before she spotted another figure who had also not backed against a wall. This one was dark haired, and was clutching a silver bundle in one hand, and a wand in the other. With a sickening feeling in her stomach that she had never felt before, she recognised the second figure, and struggled to move downwards towards the only man she had ever admired. Both figures then raised their wand and shouted at the same time.

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Expelliarmus!"

For a second, Bella almost sniggered - 'Expelliarmus'! But her attention was drawn to the loud bang and burst of light that filled the hall, and, by the time she had blinked to clear her eyes, one figure was lying, unmoving, on the floor and the other had held his had out as if to catch something, and then loud cheers filled the room, and the people lining the walls rushed to the centre of the room as if drawn by a magnet.

Then Bella felt herself being pulled by an invisible force; upwards, through the ceiling, and into darkness. She felt consciousness slipping from her, and tried to fight, to get back to her beloved master. Because he couldn't be dead. Harry Potter couldn't be alive. It was all a bad dream, and she would wake up and find she had been knocked out, and the battle was still continuing.

But the harder she fought, the faster she was pulled away, until she could resist no more.

She succumbed to the shadows.


End file.
